USNRET Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) My son got parts to build a new PC for Christmas. Although I have been doing this since the late 80's, it has been a few years so I thought I'd do some inter-web research. One of the things I looked at was aftermarket coolers and this led to thermal paste and how critical it is. Over the years I have had the cooler off my CPU a few times but never considered the ramifications of that separation.After we got his put together and running we took a look at CPU temp which was around 30c. I checked mine and it was 65c. I removed my stock (Intel) cooler, cleaned off the paste with the stuff we bought for his and re-applied a drop of paste. Mine now runs at 35c.If you ever have the cooler and CPU separate for any reason (at one point mine separated during shipping and I simply re-locked it and another time I took it off to clean the fan) do yourself a favor and clean, treat and re-apply paste. Hint that I learned on the inter-web: for lint free cloth use a coffee filter. We got this brand and used their instructions. Practice and look at the spread http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm Edited January 2, 2014 by USNRET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Replacing old CPU paste is a must with older computers, it turns into a cake like substance with age and looses its ability to transfer heat. What i use to clean my CPU & heatsink is an old T-shirt and Everclear, it works good and dries quickly. Just a small pea sized drop of paste is all you need between your CPU & heatsink. What i used to do when i was into heavy overclocking is sand the CPU & heatsing flat to create more surface area for heat transfer, most CPU's have a slight convex shape to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 old T-shirt and Everclear waste of good clothes and liquor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) Right! Great tips. Old thermal compound turns to paydough. The whole idea of thermal compound is to fill in imperfections between the chip and the heat sink. If there is too much, it reduces conductive dissipation. Whenever I clean out a computer, I remove the CPU heat sink, clean the fins, clean the heat sink and cpu surfaces, and reapply thermal compound. Jason, I have never sanded down a cpu. That takes nerve! Edited January 2, 2014 by mustang guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I found this chart comparing thermal conductivity of some things. Note the poor conductivity of air. It's a thermal insulator unless being used in a convection capacity. Graphene is the best conductor, and is one of those miracle substances which will some day change the world like plastic did in the early 20th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I had pretty much the same experience. I took apart a laptop to get to something or other and the heatsink came off as part of the deal. Yeah, the compound was like dried dirt. Not being experienced, I wondered . . . but the ham in me said something was very wrong. I had a tube of heat sink compound and applied it and buttoned things up. When running again, the fan started running from time to time -- it didn't do that before. So I infer that the thermostat sensor is on the heat sink. Without good thermal contact to the CPU the heat sink never received heat energy and therefore the cooling fan never came on. Therefore lack of compound messes up both passive cooling from the sink alone and cooling of the sink itself by the fan. Now I get to wonder about all (old) audio equipment where heat sinks are used. Best, WMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) OK, listen up you folks that built (or bought) a PC more then 3-5 years ago. If you want to keep this one for a few years more then remove, clean and apply, reinstall the CPU fan / heatsink it ain't hard. On the other hand, just let it slow down and then flame out so you can UPGRADE with the wife's OK. Edited January 3, 2014 by USNRET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I have been using Artic Silver 5 thermal paste for some time now, i recommend using it. Not expensive either, one tube will cover many CPU's. So I infer that the thermostat sensor is on the heat sink. The thermostat is not on the heatsink, at least i have never seen one located there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Most modern motherboards have more sensors than the NSA. I am using Open Hardware Monitor a freebee from http://openhardwaremonitor.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 CPUID hardware monitor is another one. Download Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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